Canada News | Indigenous

Killing of Indigenous man stokes racial tensions in Saskatchewan

Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old man belonging to the Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot and killed by a farmer while driving with four friends on private property near Glenside.

The shooter was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide, but First Nation leaders have accused the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of releasing a prejudicial press release to bias public opinion against the victim.

A torrent of racist social media comments led the Saskatchewan premier to issue a warning that laws would be enforced to prosecute online hate speech.

Outlas Outreach

The Ongoing Insecurity of LGBT Ghanaians

A relatively stable constitutional democracy, Ghana has seen the beginnings of official outreach to its LGBT citizens in recent years as it has signed on to pro-LGBT international accords and treaties, but new research from Human Rights Watch (HRW) reveals ongoing persecution and gender-based vulnerabilities. Though rarely enforced, a law criminalizing same-sex relations that emerged from the country’s colonial legacy has led to the political and corporal endangerment of LGBT Ghanaians, exposing them to intimidation, violence, fears of public exposure, and little to no recourse to law enforcement protection. Lesbians, bisexual women, and trans men have faced especially high levels of violence and labor precarity, and anti–domestic violence laws have done little to protect them given the lack of trust in the legal system. In response, HRW conducted interviews with LGBT Ghanaians to track insecurity across a range of social, legal, and economic domains and issued a set of recommendations to improve protections for the community.